


Wake

by Silver33650



Series: Tarnished Ghosts and Polished Shadows [15]
Category: Fortnite (Video Game)
Genre: Dark Magic, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I actually included the crossover characters but I refuse to tag them, Manipulation, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Revenge, they don't do much anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver33650/pseuds/Silver33650
Summary: Things change on the island, but chaos still reigns.
Series: Tarnished Ghosts and Polished Shadows [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1923190
Kudos: 6





	Wake

The Fortilla. Dawn. 

Midas sits in a plain wooden chair, leaning it back against the wall, leg crossed across his lap with his fingers pressed together and his hands steepled. It's a familiar pose to the agents, but the man striking it is quite different from the man they remember. That man was broken and longed to be whole. This man is broken and has thrown away all the pieces, and none of them are sure what remains. 

Midas stares at each of them in turn, reading the thoughts that are plain on their faces. Skye's indignation. Meowscles' worry. TNTina's satisfaction. Brutus' disappointment. Ocean's confusion. They are all so predictable. It made them good pawns in the past, but will they still be useful now? He has so many new dreams, now. He's seen the way the island has gone to hell. They have so much to do. 

He wishes Jules were here, although he's not sure what expression would appear on her face. 

They hear him out, at the very least. To throw away the old divisions and start a better one. No longer spies, but soldiers, in a war against everyone. Against the entire island, to establish a new empire. One that, naturally, he will lead. 

None of them take him up on it. They leave him, one by one. Starting with Skye, the disgust clear on her face; ending with Brutus, who seems to sport pity. Strange. Ocean doesn't leave, but this is her home. She's even gracious enough to let him stay, if he wishes. 

He does not. 

He sets the Fortilla ablaze, or tries to, but there's too much water and it doesn't go very well. He's kicked out for good then, but he doesn't mind. He wanders back through Slurpy Swamp and finds a far better companion. 

* * *

Jules finds Midas in Slurpy Swamp and is glad she doesn't have to go all the way to the Fortilla, especially since there's still smoke in that direction. Neither of them are sure what to say to each other. She can tell there are things he wants to say, but he's struggling, like he knows it's a bad idea. Finally, she asks, "Where do you want to go?" Because clearly the Fortilla is out. 

It unsettles her a bit when he responds with "Coral Castle."

* * *

But they spot a strange group of people along the way. Near the shores of the Authority, with a few of them still straggling behind on the hillside, they seem lost. A few faces look familiar, but most of them are new, and the new ones have... abilities. 

Midas doesn't like most of them, particularly Thor and Storm, for obvious reasons. ("Are they intentionally mocking me," he says with a scoff.) He thinks Mystique is neat- "who needs phone booths when you can do _that_ "- but it's Iron Man, this Tony Stark, that really catches his attention. Stark goes alone to the barn to the east of the Authority and immediately gets to work. Midas and Jules watch him build sophisticated machines, both with interest. 

Jules knows this is the person Chaos Agent wanted her to help, but she's not sure that he needs it, judging by his board. He's got a few things wrong, but they're easy to correct. Finally she introduces herself, points out his mistakes. Someone comes by and shoots at them, and they eliminate them easily, but Stark is a bit injured. Jules has some Slurp on it and hands it over. 

Stark is wary, then intrigued. "This," he says, gesturing to the board with its equations and diagrams, "this I get. This?" He shakes a can. "This, I don't." He orders whole jugs of it and scans them one by one, hoping to figure it out. 

Midas finally pulls her away, annoyed. "I have things to do," he reminds her. "And now you do too, because I want a suit like _that_."

* * *

The siblings aren't the only ones who notice the strangers on the island. Skye does too, watching from Ghost House, which is all but abandoned now. She pulls her knees up to her chin and sighs as Ollie titters. No more spy games for her. But, Chaos Agent knows, she can still be convinced. It's glad she waited here, rather than closer to the group; Brite Bomber is down there, and she's one of the few people it won't harm. 

Skye still pulls out her sword when Chaos Agent appears. It holds up its hands. _Now, now, none of that. Can't you see I'm a changed man? These are strange times on the island, Skye, and I need to adapt. And that means taking a... kinder approach this time._

This does nothing to placate her, as expected. She spouts some nonsense about justice. 

_Why do you think I care nothing for justice, Skye?_ it asks. _To everything, there is a season. A time for good, and a time for evil. The island is best when in balance. The evil time has gone on long enough. And yet, Midas has returned with the intent to prolong it, has he not?_

Now it's making headway. She hesitates, drops her stance. "You love chaos."

 _On my terms. And what he's doing is most certainly not on my terms._ Oh, how easy the lie comes. It holds out its hand. _Please, Skye. You are among the bravest on the island. He can't be stopped without a hero like you._

There is a long pause. So long it almost worries that it's not enough. But she takes its hand. 

And Chaos Agent returns to Steamy Stacks and laughs a river of sludge into being. Laughs until the basement is flooding and overflowing and spilling into the parking lot and down the hill to the bus stop. 

* * *

There is a star in the sky behind Coral Castle, growing brighter by the day. It worries Midas, but his preferred plan is not the same as the ones devised by the team of superheroes. While they plan a defense, Midas thinks only of destruction. He lurks in Coral Castle with his wild eyes, while the coral buddies sing to him. (Of course they love him. He flooded the island.) "Do you know where my favorite chair is?" he asks, over and over. "Someone stole it, too long ago."

Jules tries to convince him to help the heroes, but he rolls his eyes. "Give them whatever they want," he advises. "Whether it's technology or just coffee cups for their meeting room. I'm trying to start an empire here, and they'll be fine additions."

She worries. She wants her brother back, the one from the letters. But perhaps this is the closest she can get: the worst of him, up to eleven. So she works with Stark and pretends it doesn't bother her, because he has all the aspects of Midas that she misses most. She visits Heart Lake with him and listens to him struggle to piece together fragmented memories into stories of his own home. A family, a real team. She listens, wistful, and wonders if this is the sort of life her brother could have had. If he hadn't had the golden touch. If he hadn't had to take care of her growing up. If he'd never found the rift. 

But even Tony, with all his diagrams and equations of the bridges between worlds, can't tell her that. 

* * *

It's a long time until Halloween, but Chaos Agent manages to keep Skye entertained until then. _We are looking for something,_ it tells her. But it knows exactly where it is, having sent it there itself. Easy enough to arrange a little shipping error on No Sweat's behalf. It sends her out to the new Halloween store with the last of the Ghost henchmen and tells her about the box. She does exactly what it wants her to do. 

_It isn't right for him to be away from his home, is it? The Agency is where he belongs. It's the only castle he's ever needed. You need to remind him of that, Skye. You can fix him._ It gave her the cube. _It's not evil, Skye. It just makes opposites. And he's the opposite of how he used to be now, right?_

Like a thief, she sneaks into the shop. She finds the box, right where it told her to look. Has the henchmen pry it open and reveal the prize inside. 

Like a knight, she carries the chair to the Authority. Well, the henchmen do most of the work; the chair's heavy. They stick it in the back of a truck and ride, then switch to a boat. But they get it there, all the way up to the top floor. 

Like a wizard, she lights the candles around the chair. Pulls out the cube it gave her and presses it there till it sinks into the metal. Watches with breath held tight as the chair lifts off the ground. Waiting. 

She thinks to be like a healer, saving his soul. But instead, like a villain, she damns him and everyone else. 

He slides off his throne wearing a sinister grin. Literally lit with malevolence, consuming his hands and washing over him in waves. But it's his eyes that scare her the most. Vibrant purple, both of them, lighting even the scar on his face. Flickering between a blank glow and a piercing glare. He accepts the drum gun from her hands, and it begins to glow purple as well, flickering with runes. 

_Thank you, Skye,_ he says, but his voice is wrong. _You've done very, very well._

He reaches for her, but she runs away. Runs down the stairs, nearly falling, as his distorted laughter echoes through the building as parts of it fall around her. _Tell everyone,_ he calls. _Make sure everyone knows. I will have my revenge._

It waits for her at the dock, blocking her path even as she tries to veer away from it. "Why?" she yells. 

It tilts its golden head. _Oh, I could explain to you why this man, or why you, or why this island. But that isn't what you want to hear. None of that alone will satisfy you. So let me tell you a story._

_Once upon a time, there was a man who tried to control the storm. And the storm would not be tamed, because it was a greater power than any foolish mortal could dream of understanding. It punished the man, and his minions, but paused when it considered his mission, because that was another matter entirely. For perhaps the man had been on to something after all._

"I don't understand."

It sighs. _I know, Skye. I just wanted to reminisce. Why don't you go have fun?_

This time, it lets her jump into the boat and take off. While her part in the game may be over, there is no place in this box where a pawn could escape without it knowing. Just the way it liked it. 

* * *

Midas makes his way to the Authority, of course, when the shadows start appearing, bursting out of the drones. He slays an army of them just to get in the door. Chaos Agent waits with the king of the shadows at the top of the ruins, enjoying the sound of Midas eliminating his own former henchmen. This season has been so boring. Too much setup. Upstate New York is making everyone late for work. It's enjoying this chance to stretch its legs. 

Of course, Midas spots his chair first, then his dark clone. "What have you done?"

 _Oh, you don't like it? Everyone else did! We had so many visitors._ Chaos Agent pats Shadow Midas' head. _My best work, I think. Can't even see the runes on this one, although I couldn't resist sneaking them in a few places._ It snapped its fingers, and Midas dodges the shots aimed at his head, narrowing his eyes at the barrel. _Oooh, you should see when it dies. Wonderful._

"Get rid of it."

_Oh, there's only one way to do that._

They both look at the chair. "No," Midas says. But he still destroys it. 

Chaos Agent does love Halloween. The one time of the year where everyone else wears a mask, but it doesn't. 

* * *

Jules didn't think it was possible, but she's even more worried about her brother when he comes back from the Authority. Well, the place formerly known as the Authority. He does look a bit happier when she tells him the suit is done. She took a bit of inspiration from Cyclo, and she can tell it paid off. It's obvious Midas loves the whole ensemble from the moment it puts it on. 

"Perfect," he says, inspecting the swords. The currents around the hilt light up his already beaming face. "I made some new friends. There'll be no island left for the storm, or anything else, to destroy." He gives her a hug before he leaves, surprising her with how tight it is. She watches him go and wonders if there's still a chance he can be fixed. After all, they have all the time in the world to try, and Jules is good at fixing things. 


End file.
